Daimler Unveils the First Road-Legal Self-Driving Truck
PORTLAND, OR - Could your produce be driving itself down the road within the decade? Daimler Trucks North America says yes.
The company has unveiled the first self-driving commercial truck legally licensed to drive on U.S. highways. The aptly dubbed "Inspiration Truck" allows drivers to relinquish full control of operations, given appropriate traffic and environmental conditions, reports Time Magazine. Daimler claims these automated trucks could revamp the shipping industry, reducing accidents, road congestion, and fuel consumption.
“We’d like to take the human factor out of the equation, and make sure the system takes over to do the steering, the acceleration, and the breaking,” Head of Daimler Trucks North America, Wolfgang Bernhard, told CNBC. “First of all, these vehicles are a lot safer, they are much more attractive to drivers, and it comes with better fuel efficiency.”
The Inspiration Truck has been awarded a “NHTSA Level 3" rating, the same rating awarded to Google's self-driving car, reports tech publication ARS Technica. This means that it's fully autonomous, but drivers are still required to control the vehicle when exiting the highway, driving on local roads and docking for deliveries.
Another feature Daimler is pushing for the truck is reducing driver fatigue. According to Daimler, 90 percent of truck crashes are due to driver error, and driver fatigue plays a role in about 1/8th of those crashes. Bernhard, has been quoted as saying, ”driver drowsiness decreases by about 25 percent,” with the company’s technology in place.
“We don’t believe this system will be very expensive, it will be affordable. In 5 to 10 years from now, we will see widespread use of these systems,” continued Bernhard in his CNBC interview.
Will Daimler’s Inspiration truck be the next big thing for the produce industry? Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we follow this developing technology.
